Hebron's old city is shadowy and ancient like that of Jerusalem and Nablus. The narrow streets are protected from the sun with tarps. The main street is filled with shops selling jewelry, embroidery and other souvenirs, but they seemed better made than the typical tourist trash.
However, unlike Jerusalem and Nablus, the neighborhoods of Hebron are seeded with watch towers and partitioned with cement walls and barbed wire fences. While most West Bank settlements sit on hilltops overlooking Palestinian cities and villages, Hebron hosts both Palestinians and settlers within the city. As such, the city is divided into two sectors, one hosting about 30,000 Palestinians and 500 Israelis and controlled by the Israeli military, and the other inhabited by about 130,000 Palestinians. 
In contrast to the normally crowded streets of any Palestinian city, one section was practically deserted. Samir told me that it was because this was where trouble usually happened, espectially for youth—it was the right next to the fence dividing the Jewish area, and was where the IDF often entered. He said that people have just abandoned the area to avoid trouble. He said something in Arabic, which he translated to “We say, “If you go near the wall, god help you.” In this area, nets hung over the streets, protecting passerby from garbage thrown from above.In one place, we approached the fence and saw that the other side held a pile of garbage. A nearby shopkeeper pointed out a building on the other side and told us that it used to be a palestinian school. He also pointed out the close proximity of the settlers and the palestinians. “I live in this building here, and the settlers are right there, so close yet so far away. We are almost like neighbors, but we never talk. We are right next to each other but have no contact.”
